


Growing Pains

by TheFightingBull



Series: We Are Winchesters [2]
Category: Supernatural, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Zombie Apocalypse, Gen, Ghost Hunting, Gratuitous Swearing, High School Student Dean Winchester, M/M, Negan - Freeform, Negan Being Negan (Walking Dead), Negan Being an Asshole (Walking Dead), Negan is a Winchester, Sneaking Out, Supernatural - Freeform, Swearing, Uncle Negan, Young Dean Winchester, because, getting caught, you know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:55:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25568596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFightingBull/pseuds/TheFightingBull
Summary: Part 2 of We Are Winchesters... Dean's first 24 hours with Uncle Negan are about as embarrassing as he'd assumed they'd be. He doesn't bother to get to know anyone. Once his dad comes back around, he won't need to know who any of the people in King County Georgia are.
Relationships: Negan (Walking Dead) & Dean Winchester, Rick Grimes/Negan
Series: We Are Winchesters [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1828288
Comments: 2
Kudos: 49





	Growing Pains

Dean Winchester gritted his teeth as he felt his cheeks burn. He was in a gym that held a huge chunk of the freshman class. Having only missed the first week of school, everyone was new and so that part wasn’t so bad. What  _ was _ mortifying was listening to his uncle flirt with a plump woman with black hair and cat-eye shaped glasses.

It wasn’t that Dean thought the woman was gross or anything. Not the way a few of the boys surrounding him did; it was just that his uncle was so  _ bad _ at flirting. He didn’t understand how he hadn’t been slapped—

“Holy shit!” One of the boys laughed as exactly what Dean had been expecting to happen, happened.

“Well hot damn, Olivia!” Negan grinned even as a red handprint formed on his left cheek. “I’m about fifty percent more into you.” 

The woman, Olivia apparently, huffed and stormed out of the gym. 

“Just saying!”

Man, Dean was thankful no one knew whether or not Negan was their coach’s first or last name. Most assumed it was a last. Dean could have gotten away with a simple “no relation” if they shared the name Smith, Johnson, Taylor, or Anderson. But he didn’t think he’d have as much luck convincing his classmates that Winchester was common enough for them to share it without also sharing blood.

It was bad enough Dean would be forced to ride to and from school with Negan. If one of the other freshmen or, hell, the older students for that matter, caught him jumping out of Negan’s black Dodge Camaro, he’d never live it down.

“Hey!” a muscular redhead shouted as he approached Dean and a few other students who had stopped their warmups to watch his uncle get the bejeezus slapped out of him. “You little turds get back to business. Ain’t no cryin’ in gym, so make sure you get those stretches completed.”

Negan, having recovered, made his way over and, to Dean’s horror, winked down at him.  _ Oh God _ , Dean prayed silently.  _ Please don’t let him call attention to the fact we’re family. I’d never fucking survive! _ Actually he should be praying his dad’s hunt didn’t take longer than the two or three weeks John had originally planned for. 

“You just don’t know when to quit, do you?” the burly redhead snickered as the two grown men stepped into each other’s space. 

Negan grinned. “Boosts her esteem to hear me talking to her like that. You should give it a try too, Abraham, that way she doesn’t think I’m messing with her.”

“You  _ are _ messing with her.” The other coach rolled his blue eyes.

“Says you.” Negan shrugged. “Besides, you know she’ll complain I’m discriminating against her with the sexual harassment complaints coming from Andrea and Sarah.”

Dean ignored the chit-chat as best he could, a task made easier when a pretty blonde girl who couldn’t have been older than eighteen came jogging out in black yoga pants and a white tank top. She smiled prettily and Dean felt like his heart was going to burst right out of his chest.

“Hi guys! I’m Beth Greene. Your teacher, Jody Baker isn’t here today, but I’ll be leading her dance class. Just follow me if you signed up for modern dance and we’ll head to the other side of the gym,” she announced and then several girls and a couple of guys got up to follow.

Dean started to make a move to follow Beth, but felt Negan’s grip on his shoulder. “Don’t even think about it, Romeo.”

“Maybe I signed up for modern dance; you don’t know,” Dean said with a frown.

Negan looked down at him and then grinned before loudly speaking up. “You think I don’t have your entire schedule memorized, Winchester? You’ve got physical education with me for your first period, home economics with Olivia Mahoney for your second class. You were assigned A Lunch, which also happens to be at the same time as  _ my _ lunch break. Then you’ve got Social Studies with Deanna Monroe, and finally drama with Ezekiel Kingsley. Now, do you really want to push it, or should I continue on with your ‘B Days’ schedule?”

Dean’s shoulders rose as he shook his head. All eyes had landed on him, including the redheaded coach. Dean’s dad had been right. He warned Sam and Dean not to cross Negan, especially since John felt his older brother was a lot stricter than he was himself.

“You don’t talk to your daddy like that,” Negan said in a low, warning tone that Dean prayed he was the only one who could hear. “You damned sure don’t give me lip either, got it?”

“Yes, Sir,” he answered and nodded.

“Good,” Negan growled and then stepped away from Dean and shouted loudly. “Alright, if you were assigned to Physical Education 1, you are with me. If you are Physical Education 2, you are with Abraham Ford. Group 1, we’re headed out to the track; follow me.”

Dean started to follow after Negan as he heard Abraham begin barking his own orders for group two. Something about playing basketball on one side of the gym, since Beth’s group was dancing on the other half. He also heard music start up and wished they got to stay inside.

Georgia was stupid hot in August.

“Hey man, you okay?” A boy his own age asked, and Dean was shocked as he stared at the kid’s eyepatch.

“Uh…” Dean stared, trying not to be rude as they jogged toward the large track that surrounded a football field. Kid probably had pinkeye or something, right? Except Dean had seen temporary eyepatches and the well made, black eyepatch was certainly not temporary. “Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Coach Negan’s an asshole,” the boy insisted. “I’m a freshman too, but I know him outside of school.”

“You do?” Dean asked.

The boy nodded and then looked around. “Yeah, through my dad unfortunately.”

“That so?” Dean wasn’t sure why he cared. Negan was bound to have friends, so it shouldn’t surprise him that someone in the school knew him. “I’m Dean Winchester.”

“Carl Grimes,” the boy introduced himself. “Listen, you’re already on his radar for some reason, but I wouldn’t piss him off. Once he deems you worthy of his attention, he won’t let up.”

“Grimes!” Negan’s voice interrupted, as if to prove his point. “Come be a team captain.”

“For what?” Carl frowned obstinately and Dean couldn’t help but find it funny.

“You chit-chatting with your boyfriend over there?” Several students laughed at Negan’s response. “Pay attention so I don’t have to repeat myself.” 

Oh yeah, Negan was way worse than Dean’s dad. John never intentionally embarrassed Dean or Sam when he was mad. 

“Ron Anderson, tell him what we’re playing.”

“Flag football, dumb ass,” a blond haired boy said and sneered.

Dean rolled his eyes. The school sucked. The students sucked. The teachers  _ definitely _ sucked. He looked up at the sky as he took a deep breath. He really hoped his dad came back soon. He didn’t want this stupid life. He wanted to hunt. He wanted to help his dad.

* * *

During lunch Dean sat with Carl Grimes and a girl named Enid. She was kind of hot, but nothing spectacular. Dean was far more interested in the seniors than fellow freshmen. Not that they were interested in him back, but a guy could definitely daydream.

“You wanna go ghost hunting?” Enid asked and Dean nearly spit out his mouthful of pizza. He looked up at Carl who the question was directed toward, but Enid had more to say. “I heard some of the seniors talking about seeing her in the old Governor’s house again.”

Dean tried to play it cool as he talked around the food in his mouth. “Her? Who is ‘her’?”

Carl glared at the girl, but then looked to Dean. “It’s just a stupid ghost story. This guy, Phillip Blake? His daughter died and they say she haunts the house he owned back before he was elected Governor.”

“Yeah, that does sound stupid,” Dean agreed, but really, he was excited. Maybe if he took care of a simple salt and burn on his own, his dad would let him start hunting with him again! All he had to do was get by Negan and Sam.

“If the place was really haunted, no one would go there,” Carl added after Enid asked again about heading out to see it. “I’m telling you, it’s just a make-out spot for idiots.”

Dean looked between the blushing Enid and the oblivious Carl. He snickered and swallowed a bite of his pizza before talking. “Dude,” he whispered in a not very whispery voice. “I think that’s what she’s counting on.”

At first the other teen looked confused, and then it hit him. Dean could tell by the dark red color he turned as Carl spoke. 

“Oh uh, my dad… Enid, you know how he is about that kind of stuff.”

Dean was just finishing his pizza when he couldn’t take it anymore. He had to know. There were delicate ways to handle the kind of question he’d wanted to ask since gym class that morning, but honestly, Dean wasn’t Sam. Being all nice and sensitive wasn’t his way.

“Dude, I gotta know what happened to your eye! Do you have one under the patch? Did it get scratched by a cat? Is there just a big hole there?” Dean’s eyes widened as he grinned. “Can I see it if there is?”

Dean felt the pointy toe of Enid’s girl boots dig into shin. He grumbled and reached down to rub where she jabbed him. Carl, meanwhile, just stared at him like he was the biggest asshole in the world. Without grabbing his tray or his untouched pizza, the long-haired brunet took off.

“That was rude,” Enid said, as if Dean hadn’t already figured it out, and then ran off after her boyfriend.

Well, even if he didn’t get his curiosity sated, he at least got rid of a couple of dorks. Dean didn’t like making friends anyhow. It wasn’t like he was going to be in Georgia forever. Friends were just a liability and another loose end to have to worry about.

He grabbed Carl’s abandoned pizza and started eating it when Negan took a seat. “Whoa, dude! What the hell?”

“Cool your jets,” Negan snapped. “What did you say to Grimes that’s got him all in a fuckin’ tiff?”

Dean grimaced. “I just wanted to see his eye. Didn’t think he’d be a baby about it.”

Expecting to be rebuked, Dean was surprised when Negan laughed. “Yeah, he’s pretty sensitive about that,” Negan said and then grabbed the slice of pizza from Dean and took a bite. “God this shit is awful. Remind me to start packing you and Sammy some lunches.”

Dean blushed, hoping no one heard the man.

“Anyhow, look at it this way, if you think it would hurt or upset your little brother, good rule of thumb is that it will hurt or upset anyone else.” Negan advised. “As for what happened, he and a kid were fuckin’ around with guns and Carl got shot in the eye.”

For not even close to the first time in his life, Dean found himself grateful for his dad teaching him and Sammy gun safety. Neither one of them would have been caught dead “fuckin’ around” with guns and certainly not in close proximity to anyone else. They both knew what guns were for and when to use them. They were tools. Not toys.

“Sucks,” Dean said and his uncle nodded. “Hey, uh, have you heard anything from Dad yet?”

Negan shook his head. “Nothing beyond his coordinates. He can’t risk anyone seeing what he and his guys are up to, Kid. You know that,” Negan offered him a smile. “Have a little faith in John. My brother wouldn’t throw his life with you and your brother away for revenge.”

Dean looked at him and the doubt must have shown on his face or something, because Negan’s expression shifted. It was hard to say what the older man must have been thinking or feeling, because Dean just didn’t know him well enough to read him or his hard eyes. All he knew was Negan was no longer smiling.

With a glance around them, Negan leaned forward. “Now that you kids know me and I know you, the two of you will  _ never _ be left alone in some fuckin’ hotel or apartment for days on end again. You hear me? I expect you to call me, even if John doesn’t.”

Unsure of how to take that, Dean only nodded. He wanted to prove himself ready to hunt, not to be babysat by a man who was really just a stranger with his dad’s face and voice. But there was a magnetism to his uncle that Dean didn’t fully understand, and he wondered if he’d have the nerve to not call Negan if they were left alone again. Even if it was just for Sammy’s benefit.

“Alright, kid, I’m gonna go give Ford some shit about his girlfriend. Quit being an ass to Grimes,” Negan announced as he got up and left Dean alone at the table.

* * *

Dean crept down the short hallway from his and Sammy’s shared room to the one he knew Negan was currently passed out in. The man had started putting the beers away shortly after dinner and if Negan was anything like dad, it shouldn’t be too hard to get out of the apartment without waking him.

He walked softly, his eyes focused on Negan’s slow and steady chest rising and falling. The man was a lot like John Winchester and it made something in Dean’s heart ache. He really, really wished his dad had taken him with him on the hunt. What if John died? What if he got possessed or something? What if they never got the truth or saw him again?

Almost scolding himself aloud, Dean pushed those thoughts aside. He did a quick count. Four bottles of beer on the floor, one knocked over. Negan’s evil looking bat was within quick reach if he wanted it, but otherwise the man was out like a light on the couch.

A shrill scream rent the air and Dean’s heart stopped. He looked to the tv where some woman was being eaten by a zombie. He glanced back at Negan, expecting him to wake up and flip out on him, but instead Negan resumed his slumber as if the screams of the dying were completely normal. 

Then again, if he were awake, Dean imagined he would have said something like: “Shit, are you fucking with me? I have to listen to you fucking brats whine all damned day at school! I could sleep through a fucking zombie apocalypse with fucking ease.”

When Dean was sure he could get away with it, he opened the door to the apartment and gently shut and locked the door behind him. He took a few steadying breaths and then ran down the steps to the sidewalk below.

It didn’t take long to get the “Governor’s mansion” and, at 12:52 a.m., there weren’t any teens still inside making out. He crept into the place easily enough, since it had been condemned and there wasn’t any real security beyond the locked doors. A basement window, however, was unlocked.

Earlier, he had tricked Sammy into using some of his internet time to read about Penny Blake. Apparently she had been cremated, which meant her ghost was attached to something in the creepy old house. Well, if she was a real ghost and not just a story that boys were telling their girls to get them to sit closer to them.

“Why are you here?” 

Dean spun around to see a girl a few years younger than himself. Well, not so much a girl as a ghost. She was almost glowing like most ghosts did despite there being no light to reflect off of.

“Uh, came to check on you,” he said with a shrug. It wasn’t quite a lie. “You know, you shouldn’t be here.”

“But I can’t go without my daddy,” she said in a soft whisper and then began to cry. “I just want my daddy!”

Dean looked around at nothing within the dark basement and sighed. “Hey, hey, calm down.”

“No! I want my daddy! Please tell him I want him to come with me!” she demanded as she stomped her foot.

With a sigh, Dean moved around the ghost and pulled a flashlight from his pocket. “Hey, uh, why don’t you tell me about your favorite toy?”

“Oh, that’s easy! It’s my stuffed bear. I sleep next to it every night and he keeps me safe!” She giggled, no longer upset about not being able to find her dad. “Would you like to see it?”

“Yeah, that’d be cool.” 

He let the ghost take the lead and followed her up a flight of stairs and to the main floor. Then she led him down a long hallway to her bedroom. There, sitting on an old bed, was a bear. He didn’t wait for her to grab it or anything, just reached down and snatched it up.

“I’m really sorry, but you need to go find your peace or whatever,” he said and then lit the bear on fire.

The little girl screamed as the flames overtook her and, just like that, it was done. Dean couldn’t help but feel a flicker of pride. See, it was no big deal at all! His dad was just way too protective of him and Sam. Hell, speaking of Sam, Dean would bet money that even he could handle this kind of stuff.

Dean crawled back out of the basement window only to see a set of headlights turn on the moment he started down the driveway.  _ Shit _ . He knew those lights. They were the headlights of an old Ford Crown Victoria, which in this tiny town meant a cop car.

“You lightin’ fires up there, kid?” a man with black hair and a hooked nose demanded as he approached from the driver’s side of the car.

“No sir,” Dean lied, because if there was anything he’d been taught it was deny, deny,  _ deny. _

“What’s your name, Son?” another man, a man who had come from the passenger’s side demanded.

“Ronnie Van Zant.” 

The first cop snickered. “Got a real comedian on our hands, Grimes.”

The second cop laughed. “Nah, pretty sure he thinks he’s a musician. Son, you’re in Georgia; we know who Lynyrd Skynyrd is.”

“Name, Kid,” the first cop demanded.

Dean sneered at the ground. “Can’t you just let me get back home? I won’t sneak out again. Just let me off with a warning or something!”

“Name, or we’re taking you in,” the first insisted.

“Fuck,” Dean cursed. He couldn’t help it. Uncle Negan was a bad example. “It’s Dean Winchester.”

“Winchester?” the second cop asked and frowned. “Are you Negan’s nephew?”

“Oh shit, Rick, let the brat go!” the first cop laughed. “Your man’s gonna whoop his ass black and blue when he finds out about this.”

“Shut up, Shane,” Rick sighed and then grabbed Dean’s shoulder.

“What does he mean ‘your man’? Who are you?” 

Wait, hadn’t the first guy said Grimes? Rick Grimes. Was he any relation to Carl Grimes? Oh but… but Carl had mentioned that he knew Dean’s uncle outside of school… was that because...

“Negan’s gay?” Dean asked.

Shane, apparently, snorted but got back into their squad car. Dean wanted to beg for mercy. It was only the first night with Negan. He was gonna be… Oh man. Oh fuck. His dad was gonna find out on top of it all and…

“You out here huntin’, Dean?” Rick asked softly. “You doin’ that stuff that your uncle and daddy do?”

Dean’s eyes widened as he looked up into Rick’s face. He could see the bright, concerned blue eyes of a man who knew too much. Or maybe knew just enough. Dean wanted to lie, but it felt futile. So he nodded, because clearly there was more going on than he understood and he was stuck playing catch up. And to be honest? Dean was terrified of what was going to happen.

“Shit,” Rick cursed.

A low-pitched whistling sounded from Dean’s left and both he and Rick turned to face it. Negan strode forward from the shadows of the house’s garage, whistling and swinging his stupid bat. He was dressed in dark grey jeans, biker boots, his black leather jacket and that red scarf. Dean couldn’t tell if the man was mad because as he whistled, he gave nothing away.

Dean started to speak, but Rick gave his shoulder a squeeze.

“Well, well, well,” Negan grinned as he sidled up to Rick. “What have you caught for me, Deputy Grimes?”

“Negan,” Rick greeted. “Shane’s in the car, don’t talk too loudly.”

He watched as his uncle approached the cop and kissed his cheek! Dean was shocked. Negan didn’t really give off “gay” vibes.

“Give me a moment alone with my nephew, Darlin’,” Negan ordered.

“I think I’d rather be arrested,” Dean muttered.

“Oh that might still be a fucking option, smartass, so I’d zip it if I were you,” Negan growled even as Rick climbed into his vehicle and shut the door. 

Not even seconds later a muffled country song could be heard coming from the car. Dean supposed it was to give them some privacy. 

“You’ve got about five fucking seconds to make me understand what the fuck you were thinking.”

Dean glared at the ground. “Couple kids at school were talking about a ghost. She was cremated, so I came here to find out what she was attached to. I did and then I lit it up and got rid of her, sir.”

“How old are you, Dean?”

“Fourteen, you know that.”

“Don’t fucking backtalk me; just answer my damned questions!” Negan growled.

“Yes, sir,” Dean frowned and looked back down at the ground again.

“Your Dad teach you to do this shit by yourself?”

It felt like a trap, but Dean wasn’t stupid, despite his grades. He knew what Negan wanted to hear. Yes, technically, his dad did teach him how to do it. But even though his dad did it alone, Dean wasn’t allowed to.

He licked his lips and then shook his head. “No, sir.”

“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me you wanted to come out here and light some fucking ghost up?” Negan asked next.

Dean snorted. “Because you’d say no! That I was too young!”

“Fucking know that without asking, do you?” Negan stepped right up to Dean and bent down so that they were almost nose to nose. “You think I didn’t hear you fucking sneak out? That I didn’t notice you creeping down the hall or pausing when that bitch on tv screamed? You think you’re fucking sneaky enough to get past me?”

“Not anymore.” Dean frowned and tried to stay calm. His dad wouldn’t hurt him, but this guy? He didn’t know him. He’d only spent a little over twenty four hours with him.

“I had to call a fucking babysitter to watch over Sammy while I came to find you, Dean. Let me fucking repeat that for you nice and slow,” Negan growled, his eyes alight with fury. “A fucking stranger to you, someone who doesn’t know or care one damned bit for your fucking brother is alone with him because I had to fucking find you.”

Dean trembled at the words. Who was with Sam? Was it a hunter? Was it someone who knew? Someone who understood the dangers Sam could be in? That they could be in? Neither Dean nor Negan were there to protect Sammy and he felt sick with guilt. Truly sick as his stomach rolled and his heart sped up painfully.

A heavy hand fell on his shoulder. “You want to fucking hunt, your ass comes to me. You get one, Dean. Just fucking one mistake like this with me. You are not too old to bend over my knee and beat your ass black and blue! Fuck, I’ll do it in front of Sammy, too. Make sure he knows better than to pull this kind of shit on me. You fucking get me, Dean?”

“Yes,” Dean said and nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Rick!” Negan shouted and beckoned the man out of his car with a gloved hand.

Dean held perfectly still as the cop approached. 

“Yes, Dear?” 

Rick smiled and the anger that seemed to radiate around Negan dissipated instantly at the presence of the cop.

“You gonna arrest this fucking hooligan or what?” Negan grinned as he grabbed the other man by his hips. “Make me come down to the station and bail him out?”

“Well, he did burn Penny Blake and I’d been promising Carl we’d take care of her this weekend,” Rick sighed, but Dean could see the smile itching to rise in the corners of the man’s mouth. He hoped that meant Negan’s boyfriend would be lenient. “Salt and Burn really isn’t a big deal, though. There’s plenty of that around here for Carl to practice on.”

Negan kissed the man’s throat and then glared down at Dean. “Don’t think he’s being lenient for your fucking sake, Dean,” he said with a grin. “He’s just fucking terrified of me embarrassing him when I come to pick you up in the morning.”

“That’s for sure,” Rick laughed and stepped away. “I have to get back to work and you need to get your nephew home. It’s a school night, Negan. You know how I feel about hunting on school nights.”

Negan rolled his eyes. “The fucking dead don’t really give a shit if the boys have homework, Rick.”

“But I do,” Rick reminded as he opened the door to his car. “Get your nephew home, and don’t forget you’ve got to pick up Judith tomorrow so I can get some sleep.”

Dean followed Negan a ways down the road until they came upon a motorcycle. He was handed a helmet and ordered to put it on.

“Was that guy your boyfriend?” Dean asked as Negan put his own helmet on.

“Nope,” Negan answered. “Husband.”

“You’re gay!” Dean gasped.

“No, I’m just interested in who I’m interested in,” Negan said and shrugged.

“But you didn’t say anything, not even at school!” Dean frowned and climbed onto the bike behind his uncle.

“You’re not the first kid that’s had a parental figure work at the same school you attend, Dean. Carl doesn’t want anyone knowing I’m fucking his dad and living in his house any more than you want your peers knowing I’m a Winchester, too.”

“Are you a Winchester or a Grimes?”

“I’m Negan,” he answered with a shrug before bringing the bike to life. “Hold on, Deano.” 


End file.
